The soul of a dragon
by chloemcg
Summary: One-shot/preview for upcoming story. Professor Layton undergoes a terrifying transformation and turns into a fire-breathing mythical monster! What can he do to fix it?


**Disclaimer: I don't own Professor Layton, he and every other character belongs to Level 5...and besides, if I DID own it then I wouldn't be making Fanfiction even if I do enjoy writing oh-so much!**

**The soul of a dragon.**

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Professor Hershel Layton groaned as he felt every bone in his body ache.

The gentleman couldn't understand it, why was he hurting like this so suddenly? He didn't know how this can be happening (whatever it is) since all he did was come into procession of a very strange artefact that was named "the Dragons sapphire" that was discovered in a very ancient crypt located near Stone henge.

The realisation hit him like a freight train...the sapphire!

He spared a hurried glance over towards the desk of his office and found the supposed gem lying beside some files and other useless things, gleaming against the shreds of moonlight that just so happened to have been shining through the window at that moment.

It seemed so innocent and didn't seem like it could be what was causing this intense agony to shoot through him but then again...what else could it be?

The professor of archeology had been told to examine this jewel since it had been rumoured to have been forged by the breath of dragons, a mythical reptile that was believed to have lived in the medieval era and is a popular mythical creature that many people continue to admire because of the fact that they were supposedly the only reptiles that could fly.

Somehow the dragons had become such a charming little or big creature that remained to be popular even to this day.

Anyways this little blue jewel was also said to have been able to do something remarkable if one with a pure heart should touch it so the professor had decided to do some examinations and study it and this was what eventually became the result.

Professor Layton growled as he doubled over in agony, his eyes squeezing shut as he gritted his teeth to prevent himself from crying out. But then his eyes opened again in terror when he noticed something impossible happening to his body and he even blinked multiple times to refresh his vision to see if it was the trick of the light but only to be greeted with that horrible realisation each time he opened his eyes again.

His hands were changing shape!

The muscle tones on his arms were beginning to become more meatier and were grossly enlarging so his arms were beginning to tear right through his brown coat with the high collar rimming the back of his neck and some tears of orange were also beginning to rip right off his arms and drop to the floor in shreds.

Professor Layton tried to comprehend this. This was impossible, what was happening to him!?

He growled through tightly gritted teeth as he felt pain on his back and he looked to investigate but only to find out that he was now growing some extra limbs out from his back and they appeared to have been...wings!? They were big and dragged out in a very peculiar shape but they didn't seem to be bat-like in the least like most of these types of wings but instead they were one big appendage that seemed very deft and looked to be able to be used as a parachute if in the air.

"W-What's happening to m-m-me!?" He asked, his voice also changing as it became lower and more growly.

By now his hands had changed shape entirely and now very much resembled hammy paws that belonged to a lion. There was even rough black points digging out of his nails and clawing their way out of what used to be his fingers.

During the course of this transformation, the professor started stumbling and thrashing about to try and stop it from progressing much further. This didn't work at all.

His skin began to change texture and turn from its usual tan colouring into a darker brown, he began to grow so big as his clothes began to tear off his growing form and he also began to grow a tail and his bones hurt as he was forced from his standing position on to the ground below.

He was now a transforming heap on the floor, standing on his hands and knees, as he growled through the intense agony he was being put through.

He even felt a horrible sensation in his mouth as his skin began to shift and stretch in a very painful way. Bones and ligaments shape-shifted into something different altogether, his teeth moved around in his gums and sharpened into razor sharp fangs. His ears burned as they split into multiple pieces while they rotated to each side of his head to stick what felt arrows. Sweat began to collect and trickle down his face as the evasive transformation racked his body like a hurricane blowing down a house. He also felt his neck stretch in a very unnatural way!

And, after minutes of this intense pain, it had finally subsided and the professor had collapsed into a heap on the floor.

His breathing was heavy and raspy as he tried to regain all his common sense and he tried to make sense of what had happened to him just now. He felt rather chilly and it was in a very strange way indeed.

It was like the inside of him was ice cold -sort of like when you eat too many ice cream and it freezes you on the inside- and the only logical conclusion he could draw about that was that whatever happened to him had made him in a very literal sense cold-blooded.

(Hmmm...I wonder what happened during those few minutes?) Professor Layton thought as he tried to stand up but when he did he quickly bashed his head up against something, knocking his beloved top hat off of his head.

He gave a yelp and he put a hand to message his sore head and he looked down to retrieve his beloved hat but only to discover a few things that both intrigued and horrified him at the same time.

Firstly, his top hat was now tiny. It seemed to have shrunk down to the size of a Russell sprout as it laid on the floor, dead to the world. That wasn't even the oddest thing since there were way more startling stuff he had yet to take in.

Secondly, he noticed that he had grown a large amount. It was quite dark in the office and because of that, the professor couldn't make out much in the pitch blackness of the night yet he could make out faint outlines of the furniture and a few other things. He also noticed that his apparent transformation seemed to have knocked over many things, including his poor desk.

Thirdly, he got a good look at his hands and stomach and came to discover that not only was he sitting much like a dog but his stomach was also oddly podgy and brownish. He didn't need to mention noticing the fact that his hands now resembled paw-like things and he had a good look and what would have been his palms in this form and a horrible shriek howled out of his throat as he scooted backwards in fear.

He couldn't ask this question enough: What on earth happened to him!?

With a desperate intent, professor Layton hurriedly located a mirror and bent down to see his reflection but his expression overflowed with fear at what he saw looking back at him through the cracks and shattered pieces of the mirror.

It wasn't the normal reflection he would normally have staring back at him, to remind him of who he was and that he was a human and gentleman, but instead it shown a different face entirely.

His face had changed more then he would have ever wished.

His dot-like eyes remained unchanged but the rest of his face was a different story entirely. His face had turned into that of a beast!

A bit of his face had turned into a muzzle of some sorts with the bridge of it pointed slightly upwards quite like what should have been the seal of his upper lip and it stuck out from the middle of his face to form a mouth. His facial shape had been changed and was now a bit more rounded, albeit while maintaining still some rectangular normalities. His ears changed too! Instead of being normal human ears, these ears had formed into frills that looked sort of sharp but they still fulfilled the apparent role as ears since he could still hear.

He also had horns coming out of either side of his head.

He opened his beaky-snout-thing and discovered that he had some very sharp sets of teeth in his mouth and his jaws also seemed especially strong.

He turned his long neck around to get a view of his back and he discovered that those long limbs he was growing before were, indeed, wings but they didn't seem like wings he had ever encountered before. He also had a tail with that seemed to have had an arrow-shaped tip that amazed him most of all!

Upon closer inspection, however, he had realised that he wasn't completely naked from wearing his regular clothes. The cuffs of his sleeves were still remarkably intact and had somehow barely fit around his wrists and he also still had the high collar of his coat still worn around his neck even if it was ripped at the bottom -probably from damage it sustained after being ripped off the rest of the coat.

Professor Layton had to accept the reality now:

He had become a dragon!

Many questions raised in his head about this new form. Could he breathe fire like other dragons? Did this form come with any other ability? How was he going to live with this? Could he transform back into his human state? Could he still talk in a way that others would understand him?

Professor Layton tried to comprehend this, this couldn't be happening! He had turned into a huge beast that could barely fit in his ransacked office and his mind was a complete mess of queries about what had occurred tonight.

However he knew that he couldn't do much when panicking. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath in and exhaled. He had a prestigious expression on his dragon face as he calmly picked his tiny top hat up from the ground and planted it atop his giant head where it sat in between the two dragon horns sticking out of his head.

He had to admit it, looking in the mirror again, he looked good with the top hat as usual.

(What can I do now? I need some assistance here but who in all of London can help me, I highly doubt that I can just walk up to any old person and ask for the assistance...)

Professor Layton contemplated all the solutions in his head as he raised a hand -or claw- to his chin in deep thought and he closed his eyes. People would probably run away from him if he dared be caught in the streets so he doubted going to anyone like Scotland Yard can do any good and he didn't even know if anyone could understand him in this form, he would probably sound all growly and bizarre.

He gave a low growl as if he was humming meaningfully and he opened his eyes with a slight smirk tugging at his beak and he gave a prideful snort through his nostrils. Of course, there was only one person whom he knew could help him! Luckily this person could speak to animals so maybe the professor would be understood by this person should he have learned to speak oversized reptile.

Luke Triton, his apprentice.

The professor knew there were some complications about this, though. One was the fact that the boy in question lived across the sea now on a tropical island where there was a good little town. Even if he knew where he was, how could the professor even hope to get there on foot without being seen by anyone who would flee from him in fear.

Dragon Layton gave a small sigh. Whatever the solution to this puzzle was, it was assuredly going to be complicated. But it was then a sudden thought crossed his mind, although it was a crazy thought to have it was the only shot he had at reaching Luke without getting detected.

He slowly got to his haunches and started to try and squirm out of the office he was clearly too big for. He threw his weight around a bit before he used one side of his body to break down a crumbling wall blocking his path. Several slams were required to break the wall into pieces before it eventually gave way and revealed the evening night skies he would so often see from his window.

The cool breeze blew in his face and it blew his frills a bit, catching them in the gentle night wind as he closed his eyes. He knew he didn't exactly have long before people would make a fuss of his appearance so he made a very daring move indeed as he leapt out into the open air and attempted to flap his wings in order to lift him off the ground.

But, alas, this failed. Completely.

As he jumped out, the poor professor quickly found himself plummeting towards the ground below as he was spinning out of control. He spread his wings and flapped them to frantically save himself although he didn't really get to parachute in time as he fell on his stomach on to some rock hard concrete that plated the background of Greensheller university.

(Ow...that hurt.) Professor Layton got up on all fours, knowing that he could no longer stand on two legs in this form, and he stuck to the shadows as he crept towards the docks as silently as possible. He just hoped that he could make it to the right boat on time so he could go and see Luke about this problem of his.

Dragon Layton stretched his forelegs and cracked his stretched spinal cord so he could get a little more comfortable in this new beastly form of himself.

After that he promptly cantered through the shadows, slivering like a snake through the shadows.

He didn't know what to do...but he had to do something or else be a dragon forever.

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**A/N: Hi, guys. Sorry for the sudden surprise but I am just letting you know that this is supposed to act as a teaser trailer-fanfic. Its kind of for a Professor Layton story I have been thinking about doing but I don't know if people will like it or not so I'm doing this as a test run.**

**This Professor Layton story is, obviously, about professor Layton turning into a dragon since I thought that lots of people made it so he turns into a werewolf (an awesome idea, btw!) but nobody really turns into a dragon do they? **

**I thought it would be an interesting idea.**

**Anyways there is a chance that this will be an actual fanfic instead of a One-shot but that depends on what kind of reviews this story gets. **

**I would like to know if the idea would get loved first. **

**BTW, this takes place AFTER "Professor Layton and the lost future" so that is why Luke is so far away in this. Just clearing that up.**

**Please review and make sure to check out my other Professor Layton fanfics.**

**Thanks!**

**-Chloemcg**


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